In Night, She Comes
by Morrigan'sLament
Summary: Hermione has been having dreams about one of her Professors and wonders if he feels the same way.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Disclaimer: I am a tease and do not actually own any of these character. But JK Rowling killed Dumbledore, so her judgment can't be trusted. J/k

Please Read and Review! Pretty please...

Hermione pushed the hair out of her eyes, running a hand over her exhausted eyes. Slowly, turning to another page in her studying, she scribbled words hastily onto the parchment before her and reread the last paragraph, realizing that it no longer made any sense. With a sigh, she rose from the chair which had become her home for the last few days and trudged up the stairs to her dormitory. Placing all of her books, jars of ink, and parchment beside her bag, she climbed into bed, fully clothed, and fell asleep within minutes.

_"Come to me, enchantress of the night. Find me and remove my bitterness…" a voice whispered. In the dream, Hermione was standing at the edge of the Lake and staring into its depths; one step and she would fall into the placid waters. Looking down, she realized she was wearing the same dress that she always wore in these dreams: long, white, with a tight bodice which flowed out from her waist and fell at her ankles._

_She turned to where she knew the voice was coming from and made her way up the small hill, walking slowly because she was barefoot. Slowly, anxious of being caught even in the dreams, she made her way up the stairs towards the room where she knew **he** would be this late at night. She did not understand why she always made her way up the same stairs to his room, why she felt this way about him in these nightly visions. It was the dream that controlled her, not the way it should have been. Without knocking, Hermione turned the knob and entered the room. **He** has obviously gotten tired of grading papers because although there was a pile of ungraded papers, his head was resting on his arms. He had removed his robes and was wearing a white shirt and black pants. He almost looked like a Muggle. His eyes were closed, the small wrinkles on the sides of his eyes smooth in his slumber. She stood right next to him, and slowly, so as not to disturb him, she reached out her hand and touched his neck softly, so gently that he would not have even known if he had been awake. But his hand flashed out and caught her, his head rising and his dark eyes catching her light brown ones._

_"Why do you come to me every night? Why do you torture me?" his voice was ragged, in such deep agony that Hermione was a little scared at the moment._

_"I do not know. This is not real. This is but a dream," she whispered, turning the hand that had caught her wrist until she slid it down so that she could intertwine her fingers with his. He rose in one swift motion, turning away from her and walking quickly over to the window, throwing open the windows so as to let the cool night air in. He stood with his back to her, arms clutching the window frame violently. He would not turn around and she realized that he was afraid of something._

_"You called to me," she whispered, loud enough for him to hear. "You called me enchantress and asked me remove your bitterness. I know your voice. You called to me." Slowly, so as not to scare him, she walked to the windows and stood silently next to him._

_"You know this can never happen in real life. You do understand that much?" His voice was still a bit rough, but the air had calmed him. She nodded; if she was not feeling the very emotions that coursed so violently through her, she would have laughed at the absurdity of nodding when he was looking in another direction. Carefully, she reached out her left hand and touched his right arm, then pulled it away from the window frame. He did not yet turn, but stood there, fixed to the glass. Realizing that he would not push her away, she stepped to her left, so that her back was to him and she was between him and the window. He breathed in harshly as she moved, and when she finally stood still, his right arm came around her waist. She reached up to touch his left arm and it too came around her. Now, with a sad smile on her face, she turned. To look at his face. When she saw him during the day, they acted so differently that she did not understand how she loved him so passionately during the dreams. It was as though they were two different people, one her teacher and another her lover. His eyes were staring at her, and the expression in them was a combination of pain, sadness and passion. He loved her too, in the dreams. He lowered his face until he could rest his forehead against hers and closed his eyes._

_"This pains me so, and yet, it is the only time in my life that I do not feel broken or incomplete." His voice was a whisper and Hermione closed her eyes too._

_"I do not understand how I can love you so much during these dreams. It is as though we are both two different people." She moved her face up so she could touch her lips to his. His lips were soft, but cracked. She pressed her lips to them again and this time, he kissed her back. It was not angrily, as she had expected. There was only sadness and love in that kiss, no anger._

_"You break me, Hermione. You break who I am when you come to me." He said when they finally pulled apart. "I thought I knew who I was, what I wanted with my life. But in the dark, when you put on that dress and come to me, you break away that part of me and I cannot force myself to leave, even when I know I should."_

_"I know you should leave. I know I should leave. But you will not and I cannot. I am transfixed," she whispered, kissing his eyelids when he closed his eyes. She loved his eyelids, she thought to herself. She even loved them. Without thinking, her eyes pooled and she felt a tear leak out from her right eye. Thankfully his eyes were closed and he could not see that she was brought to tears by how much she could feel for him, and only him._

_He kissed her forehead and pulled her closer, until her hands lifted to his neck and she lay her head on his shoulder, looking up at him. She let out a sigh and moved her arms so that they were loosely around his waist. Safety and comfort were all she felt in that moment, with her head resting against his shoulder and his head resting on her own. He pressed his lips to her hair and she sighed in happiness again._

"Hermione," _What was happening? Why was someone calling her now? "Not yet," he whispered, holding her more tightly as though she was trying to escape. She looked up and he pressed his lips against her, this time desperate. "Don't go yet," he whispered. In his eyes, there was a look of great sadness and pain. This truly was torturing him._

_"I don't want to. But the dream controls me. I no longer have control of this." She kissed him again, tasting his despair and need for her._

"Hermione!" _She was being shaken now and she realized the dream was ending. "I love you," she whispered to him. She kissed him one last time and though his arms tried to hold onto her with all his might, she was being pulled out of the dream, out of his office, the safety of his embrace._

"Hermione, I love you too and all, but wake up. You have your exams in about an hour, and I thought you might want breakfast, and a shower before your test. So I'm waking you up now. So wake up," the voice explained as two small hands pushed her until she nearly fell off of the bed.


	2. While Awake

**Chapter 1**

Dislclaimer: I still don't own them…unfortunately. They belong to JK Rowling and Warner Bros, apparently. I didn't know that. Interesting….

Moving on…PLEASE REVIEW! PLEASE!

Two Days Later

Hermione Granger made her way down the stairs in the direction of the Great Hall, meeting Ron and Harry for breakfast. A few people were still milling around, most outside since it was their day off. The teachers had not even wanted to stay inside this day and since it was a Friday, they had allowed the students to miss class the entire day. As she walked down the hall towards the room, she saw Professor Dumbledore gliding merrily wearing light blue robes that blew around him. He winked as she passed, and she couldn't help smiling at him. The smile stayed on her face and when she entered the Great Hall, it grew when she saw that Harry, Ron, Ginny, Luna, Neville, and Malfoy were all sitting together. The people she cared most about…and Malfoy. She could hardly believe that they had less than two weeks left of the term.

"Morning," she said as she slid into a seat beside Ron. He smiled shyly up at her and she grabbed a piece of toast, spreading strawberry jam on it. Neville was talking about how his grandmother was planning to go to Asia with him once the term was over and how excited he was because there were exotic plants in the Pacific Ocean that just could not be found in the Atlantic. She smiled and nodded, pretending to listen. But in all honesty, she was too wrapped up in other thoughts. She continuously thought about the dreams.. Before these few months, what she felt in the dreams stayed in the dreams. But that was back when the face of the man she loved so dearly was in shadows and blurry; she had recognized him less than two months ago and then the awkwardness had started. In class, she was quiet.

They had all noticed something was up when she was quiet in class. Hermione Granger, all-knowing-entity, not raising her hand? That was a sure sign that the apocalypse was soon approaching. Harry had asked her what was wrong once, when he had finally noticed that the people around him had feelings and emotions as well. She chewed her toast thoughtfully and realized that the voices around her had stopped speaking. Looking up, she saw that they were all turned towards her.

"Sorry, was someone saying something to me?" she asked, a light blush coloring her cheeks.

"We were wondering where you were going at the end of the term," Ron told her, attempting not to laugh at her.

"My parents are talking me to the South of France, Spain, and Italy again. It's not really a magic related trip, simply Muggle sight-seeing." She loved traveling, getting lost in a place where she was able to learn about culture, languages, customs, and people. When she traveled, the world was her teacher and she was ever the dutiful student.

"Well, make sure that you stop by the Burrow because Mum will throw a fit if you don't," Ron told her as he moved to refill his glass of juice. His arm brushed her own and she felt a little saddened by her reaction. She should feel something more for the boy she had liked for almost six years, but she felt nothing for him now, nothing romantic at least. She had always been jealous before when another girl had noticed him, had been livid when he had been dating Lavender Brown, hurt when he had asked her to the Yule Ball as a last resort. But now…now, he was nothing more than a friend to her and for some reason, he seemed to follow her around more often. If only she had known this tactic would've worked earlier, before the dreams. But they filled a hole in her that she hadn't known had existed. She had always thought that she was happy with her life: she had parents that both loved her, friends who cared about her, the Weasleys who were like her family, perfect grades (which were very important to her), and a great school that she enjoyed attending. What more did she need? But even as she asked the question, the answer's face swam into her mind and she shook her head lightly as though attempting to spew him out of her mind. Stupid, she thought to herself. Childish, foolish, infuated, impetuous, Hermione. You are above this, you are better than this.

The conversation was ending again and she saw Neville and Luna get up at the same time, smiling sweetly at one another. When had that happened, Hermione wondered. Luna began to tell him about how there were purple striped unicorns that everyone discriminated against, and she saw that he was genuinely listening to her, attempting to understand whatever she was talking about. Good for Luna, she thought.

Slowly, swallowing the last bite of her toast, she rose too. "I'm going to do the rest of my homework down by the Lake. It's beautiful outside."

"Hey, I'll go with you. Maybe you can help me understand what Snape was telling us about stewing potions during the full moon versus the new moon." He grabbed his bag and followed her suit by getting up in one swift motion. Ron, of course, did the same, although much more awkwardly than Harry. Ginny waved at them as they left, and when Hermione turned around for a second, she saw that Ginny was slowly moving to sit beside Malfoy and he was slyly taking her hand. Why was everyone around her in love!

"That wasn't a complicated lesson. You should've understood all of it."

"I understood none of it, except that I was hoping that it was the full moon and Professor Lupin would turn into a werewolf and just tear Snape to shreds."

"Harry!"

"Sorry. I didn't mean that. Well, I did mean that. But I didn't mean for it to come out that way?"

"What other way could your wish for a teacher to be clawed by a werewolf have come out?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip as she angled her head questioningly.

"Nicely?" Harry said with a smile on his face. They had recently learned the beautiful art of bantering, something Hermione enjoyed and was glad of. As they went down the stairs, towards the doors, someone called Hermione's name and she turned around as she was walking. It was Cho Chang and Hermione stopped to wait for her.

"Can I talk to you alone for a minute?" Cho asked Hermione, looking a little nervous.

"Sure. You guys go ahead. Save me a seat under the Great Oak please." Harry nodded and Ron followed, turning over his shoulder at the last moment to glance at her.

"What's the matter Cho?"

"Hermione, is something going on between you and Harry?"

"What?" Hermione nearly shouted, looking completely surprised by this. "Of course not. We all very well know that I am not the girl he has been pining after for the last four months, Cho."

"Oh. It's just that…well…the last time he and I talked, he was worried about you. I don't remember why, but he couldn't stop talking about you. He…was almost obsessed."

"Cho," Hermione said, placing her hand reassuringly on the girl's arm. "He was nervous. He likes you. You know that as well as I do. He just tends to talk about what he's comfortable with when he's that nervous."

"Oh," the other girl replied, a slow smile coming onto her face. "All right then…I guess I should go."

Hermione nodded, a small smile coming onto her face. She turned around to walk down the sloping lawn, when Cho called her back.

"Thank you," the girl said with a real smile. Hermione broke out into a grin and without turning and looking, began walking down the lawn. But before her feet even touched the soft grass, she bumped into a figure and she would have fallen backwards if strong hands hadn't caught her forearms.

"Are you all right, Ms. Granger?" a voice asked. Hermione looked up and into the face of the man she had been dreaming about for the last few months and said nothing, not trusting her voice to speak without betraying some emotion.


	3. While Daydreaming

**Chapter 2**

Disclaimer: See Prologue…

Hey, can any of you guess who it is? Come on…there have been hints since the first story…GUESS if you think you know.

"Professor…I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going," Hermione said sheepishly.

"It's quite alright Ms. Granger. I'm glad you didn't fall and hurt yourself." He smiled softly at her and against her will, she felt her butterflies invade her stomach and returned the smile, although she knew that hers would not look nearly as believable as his. His hands were still wrapped around her arms and she realized that if she moved even a little bit closer to him, their lips would connect. Like in the dreams, her traitorous mind reminded her. If she couldn't even control her thoughts, how would she ever control her actions around this man? She could only go so long before she went mad or simply got over him. It was no surprise that she was hoping for the latter, but that did not seem to be a possibility.

"Thanks for keeping me upright Professor," she said, attempting lightness. His soft smile grew a little and the lines around his eyes crinkled. Why did he look so tired? If she reached out her right hand, she could touch those very lines with her very own fingers. Maybe then they would disappear and he would be younger, freer, like her again.

His hands released her hands and she stood up by herself now. "Good-bye Miss Granger," he said as he moved past her. She nodded, not trusting herself to speak and not ask him to stay. Slowly, as though her entire body cried out against it, she made her way down to the lake and spent the majority of the next few hours helping Ron and Harry with their essays for Potions.

The next day, Ron, Harry, Hermione and Neville made their way into the class together. She, Ron and Harry found a table together and Neville sat with a few Ravenclaws he seemed to know. A few minutes later, he entered the classroom.

"Class, today we will be studying the sister curse to the Imperius Curse, the Vitalus Curse. Now, who can tell me how it is different from the Imperius?" he asked, looking around the class before his eyes rested on her. She said nothing, instead pretending to write down what he said next. Of course she knew the answer, she had read the entire book during the summer. But she just didn't feel like speaking. After having stayed up most of the previous night because she just couldn't sleep with the dreams constantly bothering her, she was exhausted and the motivation that defined her was somewhat absent.

"All right then. The Vitalus Curse is different in two ways: first, it is not an Unforgivable Curse. The Ministry might reprimand you for it and send a warning, but…" Hermione's mind drifted off and she rested her head of her arms, left cheek against her arms, facing towards Ron. As her eyes closed, she began to dream again. But this it was different.

_It was daylight, as she realized that she was sitting with her back against the Great Oak. The sun warmed her skin and she realized that she was wearing a dress again. But this dress was different. It wasn't the same white one she always wore. This one was made of soft cotton, not the silk the white one was made of. Also, this one was light yellow and had short lightly puffed sleeves. She looked like a young, happy girl in this dream. The atmosphere was different. She was no longer afraid to meet him. Instead, she was just a little nervous, but so happy that she would finally see him that she smiled to herself softly. Her hair was not her usual kind; it was braided down her back and fell near her waist. All in all, this dream was not like the other ones. But she knew he would come, could predict it from the feeling in her stomach._

_"Hi," a voice said, panting from running. She looked up and saw his face. She couldn't help gasping a little. This was not the face of the man she knew now. There was no pain in it; instead, a twinkle in his eyes had replaced the wrinkles of worry around them, a smile had replaced his pained attempt at grinning, and soft cheeks had replaced gaunt ones. This was what he would've looked like if he had lived an easier life._

_"Hi," she heard herself saying. He held out a hand to her and she took it, allowing him to pull her up. He was still as strong as before and when she stood up, she rested her hand against his chest. He was wearing Muggle clothes again, a short-sleeved shirt with khaki pants, looking rather relaxed. The cloth underneath her hand felt soft and wonderful and her smile grew._

_"Hi," he whispered again as he kissed her cheek gently. He moved to kiss her other cheek when she turned her face so that her lips could find his own. They kissed, sweetly, happily, passionately. He pulled away from her and she pulled his collar back to her._

_"Come back. I miss you already," she said with a small pout on her lips. He chuckled merrily and kissed her again. His right palm cupped her face while his left went around her waist. Her arms went around his neck and she smiled into the kiss. This was what she had always wanted, happiness, comfort, safety with him. She had wished that they could simply be together and happy. It was such a simple, childish wish._

_This time she was the one that pulled back and together, holding hands, they walked towards the area that separated Hogsmeade from Hogwarts._

_"Where are we going?" she asked, looking at his face. He said nothing, simply brought the hand holding his to his lips and dropped a kiss. She leaned towards him to kiss his cheek. They had just finished necking and they couldn't stop touching each other. This time, he moved his face so that her lips met his own. She pulled away, blushing as she noticed passer-bys looking at them knowingly with smiles._

_"Come back. I miss you already," he said, imitating her pout. She swatted him, but his arm came around her waist. They continued walking until they were in front of a quaint little store._

_"What is this place?" she asked. he said nothing, but with a smile, he took her hand and dragged her inside. The vision before her very eyes threatened to make her cry and she couldn't hold back the small gasp of surprise. Inside the store were the things she loved most in the world, books. Thousands and thousands of them lined every shelf and she walked forward, reaching up to get one. The History of Siren Rebellions by Rosie Milligan. The cover was old and worn, but she loved it all the same. She was near tears by this point and he seemed to understand because he came and put his arms around her waist from behind. She rested the back of her head against his chest and with a huge smile, opened the book. He went and found large chairs for them to sit in. But not wanting to be far from him, she shared one chair with him, sitting mostly on the chair except that her left leg was on top of his. They sat silently reading for a few minutes, until his hand idly brushed her neck and sent a shiver down her spine._

_"Mmm," she almost purred from the touch. He caught the noise and without closing the book, leaned closer towards her and pressed his lips against the area where neck met shoulder. This time, she did indeed purr and put the book down. She had never been like this with anyone else. Men were new for her, but with him, there was no awkwardness, no discomfort, no shame. It was sweet and gentle. But every time he touched her, she couldn't help but react, turning towards him or moving closer or just kissing him. It was so annoying that she always seemed to want him. She turned her face and he kissed her, pulling her up onto his lap. Her arm went around his neck and she fiddled with his hair, running her finger through his soft black hair. He closed his eyes and sighed happily, kissing her neck. Content, she closed her eyes as well and rested her forehead against his own._

"Hermione! Hermione, come on. Wake up now!" She was being shaken awake and she clung more closely to him. "No!" she shouted in her dream. "Don't! Let me be!"

"Hermione, come on. We'll be late for Herbology. Come on!" Ron finally succeeded as her head came up and she looked around the room drowsily. Everyone else, including him, had left, except for Harry, Neville and Ron, who were waiting for her.

"I fell asleep?" she asked in a soft voice.

"No. Your eyes just happened to close and the world just happened to fade away. But I wouldn't call it sleep." Slowly, she rose to her feet and grabbed her belongings, heading towards the door.

"Ms. Granger," a voice called her back. She turned and watched as he stepped out of his familiar office.

"Professor," she said, turning around but not moving towards him.

"Can I just speak to you for a moment? Alone?" he asked, putting his hands together.

"Yes. You guys go ahead. Tell Professor Sprout I'm coming."

"Ms. Granger," he repeated as her friends left her behind. He closed the door so that only a crack remained and looked at her. "Are you all right? Lately, you haven't been volunteering information nearly as often. You only answer when called upon and today, you fell asleep. I wouldn't be lying if I said I was worried about. You're one of my brightest students and I just want to make sure everything's okay. Is it?"

"I'm fine Professor. Just tired," she lied to him. He nodded and rubbed his eyes.

"I can relate," he said with a wry smile. She smiled softly at him. "All right Ms. Granger. I will not hold this against you if you promise to be yourself next class. I must say I'd quite gotten used to you answering every question first. It was nice to have something to count on." He chuckled softly and she blushed a little.

"Thank you Professor." He nodded again.

"Well go on. If Professor Sprout asks anything, tell her that I kept you late. And Ms. Granger, smile a little. You look prettier when you do." He added the last bit softly, but she heard him anyways. With her blush growing, she made her way down to the Herbology lab, questions still on her mind.

Later that night, she sat in the library, working an essay. Not surprisingly, she had slept through dinner and although she was hungry, she felt better now that she had actually slept without any dreams tormenting her. She felt motivated again and once she had begun reading through the assignment, the old gleam was back. She wanted to do well on this essay. It was more important to her than a silly dream she had had. With another grumble coming from her stomach, she turned back to her paper about the common uses of the belladonna plant. Her hand flittered over the paper as small, perfectly organized words filled the page and the time went by quickly. Two hours later, she finally finished and yawned out loud, stretching to ease the discomfort caused by sitting still for so long. She looked up and realized that the library was empty, except for a chair near the window containing a single body. She recognized it as Terry Boot, a boy in her year, but one she had no classes with. Gathering her things, she rose and stretched once again, rubbing her eyes with a hand.

"Late night studying?" a voice said from behind her. It was Blaise Zabini, a boy from Slytherin that she often saw following Malfoy around the school. Why was he here at the library?

"Yes. I was just on my way to the dormitory," she informed him. "Well goodnight."

She turned away from him and moved towards the door, but before she could say anything, she felt a hand covering her mouth and one tightly wrapped around her waist. Someone moved behind her and then she saw Blaise standing in front of her.

"Were you going somewhere Mudblood? I hadn't realized that I had dismissed you. it isn't proper to disrespect your superiors, is it now?" He had a menacing grin and Hermione felt her heart speeding up. She knew Malfoy was mean-spirited, but it seemed that the pointy-faced prat was nothing compared to his friend.

Slowly, without attracting any attention, she moved her right hand slowly towards the pocket of her pants underneath her robes.

"I don't think so Granger. Expelliarmus." Hermione watched in horror as her wand flew out of her pocket and into his open palm. His evil smile grew and she realized that he was in control now. Fighting would be futile, since he had the wands. She had to do something. Without thinking it through, she bit the hand of the captor and when he released her from the surprise, she kicked Blaise and ran. It was closed! And she had forgotten to get her wand from him. No!

"HELP! HELP ANYONE! PLEASE!" She was screaming so loudly that her throat hurt, but she was screaming for…what. He couldn't very well kill her, but he could hurt her badly enough. "IS ANYONE THERE? HE--" Before she could finish, she felt strong arms once again around her waist and then a slap against her face.

"How dare you! How dare you kick me! I'll show you Mudblood." He shouted at her as he pulled her away from the door and threw her onto the floor. Hermione had to think….think, of something, anything. He stalked over to her and slapped her again. _Now really, what need was there for that?_ she thought to herself.

He knelt down beside her and grabbed her arms with one hand, holding them tightly above her head. Before she could scream again, his other hand was inside of her robe and underneath her shirt. She could feel it against her stomach, stroking slowly. Now she had to act. She couldn't kick him, since he was sitting on top of her legs, his wrapped around her own. If she didn't move from here, she was going to be sick. Her wand…where was her wand? She looked around the room and found it lying near the door. She had to get out of here. He was going to do worst things to her than just have his way with her body. He couldn't be that kind. She looked up again to guess how far her wand was when she saw a face through the door holding her in the library. It was him! He had heard her scream and he was here. The look on his face was pure cold fury and he was silent. He held a finger above his lips, telling her to be quiet. She blinked, afraid that if she nodded Blaise would understand. Speaking of whom, his hand had traveled up her shirt to her bra. He was stroking the side of her breast and Hermione wanted to scream. She watched as the lock opened with a soft, muted click and the door opened just as quietly. Without a single word out loud, he pointed his wand at Blaise and in a second, the boy's arm slid out of her shirt and his weight left her legs.

Hermione was too shocked to move and sat very still for the next few minutes. The fear that she had kept in check while she thought up a plan fell upon her now, heavy and painful. He walked over to her, kneeling beside her on the floor. His expression was still angry as he conjured a length of rope and tied it around his arms and legs. Then he turned towards her and looked intently at her. She couldn't move. Her arms hung limply by her side now and she worried that if she attempted to stand up, her legs would not hold her.

"Ms. Granger," he said, his voice holding back some deep emotion. She nodded to show she had heard, unsure of what to say. "Ms. Granger. Hermione," he whispered. She looked up at him then, her eyes meeting his. He had never called her Hermione, never in real life.

"Professor," she croaked out. With that single word, all the emotion upheaval of what had just happened, the hunger, the exhaustion and the anxiety of being that close to him crashed against her. Slowly, a small tear fell from her right eye and she closed them, willing the feelings away. Another followed and then another. She found she couldn't stop, so she allowed them to fall. He silently let her cry for a few minutes and then, wanting to improve things, he spoke to her gently.

"Hermione, we're going to get you up to Madam Pomfrey. She can make sure everything's okay. She will probably make you stay the night and then leave in the morning. Can you stand?" he asked. She nodded and opened her eyes. His face was full of concern and sympathy for her. He held out his hand, and she took it, allowing him to pull her up. As she stood, she swayed a little and his arms reached out for her, holding her just as he had when she was about to fall. How many times had he stopped her from falling? He pointed his wand at Blaise's unconscious body and Hermione watched as it floated behind them. His arm was holding her up and he returned her wand to her.

"Thank you," she whispered. They continued walking until they reached the Infirmary. He led her to a bed and she sat down at the edge, letting her bag drop from her shoulder. He went to fetch Madam Pomfrey, who came out looking worried and very angry.

"Thank you Professor. If you hadn't found her in time, no one knows what might have happened. Tsk tsk…dangerous minds these boys have. Taking what isn't theirs." Madam Pomfrey returned into her office to make a potion for Hermione to drink and he looked at her for a moment.

"I'm going to take him to the Headmaster and see what Professor Dumbledore recommends. I am going to recommend he be expelled…but I cannot promise it Hermione. Will you be all right here?"

She nodded again and looked up at him. "Thank you," she repeated. He seemed unsure of what to do, because he took a step towards her, but stopped before taking another. He stood for a minute, not knowing whether to go forward or backward. After a few seconds, he turned on his heels and left.

"Dearie, there's a shower over there. There are clean pajamas there as well. I'm pretty sure you'd feel better if you washed, no?" Hermione nodded her reply and Madam Pomfrey handed her a small bar of soap, and two bottles, one shampoo and one conditioner. Wordlessly, Hermione went over to the small bathroom and turned on the lights, locking the door behind her. She removed her robes and her shirt and jeans she had worn underneath. She looked down at her stomach and saw bruises coloring it. Standing in front a mirror, she saw her face was still red and when she lifted a finger to it, it smarted. He hit hard, she thought to herself. She entered the shower stall and spent the next 15 minutes scrubbing herself clean. She didn't think she'd ever be clean enough. He had touched her and she couldn't scrub him away. Thankfully he had showed up in time. What would she have done if he hadn't come? The thought threatened to make the tears start again. You would've saved yourself. You were formulating a plan just as he came. You can survive without him, her conscience informed her. Yes, but I do not want to, her heart reminded her. After shampooing and conditioning her hair, she stepped into the soft flannel pajamas, which were two sizes too big for her. She combed her hair with the brush in her bag and lay down on the bed. Madam Pomfrey's draught was there and she drank it down. Before long, she fell asleep. That night, she slept without a dream.


End file.
